The Arab-Palestinian Minority and the Israeli State: Contentious Responses

Rana Zaher

The paper then presents a conceptual framework to describe the dynamics of this relationship.

Introduction This paper aims to diagnose the relationship between the Arab Palestinian society in Israel on the one hand, and the ruling establishment and its policies on the other The paper commences with a presentation of the imbalanced relationship between Arab citizens in the country and the ruling establishment, and how Arab citizens deal with the democracy of the state. The paper then presents a conceptual framework to describe the dynamics of this relationship. Specifically, this paper sheds light on the historical and political stages of this relationship from 1948 until today, and it also addresses the main challenges that still face the Arab Palestinian minority in its relationship with the state. Based on the conceptual framework that is presented, the paper will outline models of protest, and behaviors that this minority has used to deal with the ruling establishment, at least during the previous two decades. These models provide examples to illustrate the different behaviors that are measured and assessed on a scale extending from rhetoric that is radical at one end and pragmatic at the other, based on the ideas of Jamal (2007, 2017), despite there being some exceptions. The discussion that is presented will lead to recommendations on three levels: the party politics level, the institutional level, and the civil society level.